Author: chelse Sstark

My name Is Chelsea Stark I am legally blind and was born with optic nerve damage I have tunnel vision and can only see to about two feet in front of me. I use a Nikon to take my pictures.
I use the live view to compose the pictures since I cannot see through the viewfinder. Since my field of vision is so narrow and I don’t relate to wide vistas, I photograph close up intimate subjects The things I like to photograph are animals, flowers and some times scenery.
I use an Apple Mac, which comes with some great tools such as speech, enlarged screen and oversize mouse pointer.
My inspiration comes from my loving fiance’ Robert Park. The more pictures I see of his the more inspired I get. He is also my teacher. I hope one day my pictures are as good as his.

Treatment is available that often can manage lupus symptoms effectively, but it may not always be possible to prevent heart, kidney and other health problems associated with the disease. Learn more from Dr. Uma Thanarajasingam, rheumatologist.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I was diagnosed with lupus six months ago. I am 23. Are there things I can do now to prevent heart or kidney problems down the road?

ANSWER: Lupus is a complex autoimmune disorder that can affect any organ system in the body. Although you can take steps that may lower your risk for developing complications, it may not always be possible to prevent heart, kidney and other health problems associated with lupus. But treatment is available that often can manage symptoms effectively. Working closely with your care team to get regular checkups and blood tests to monitor your condition can help control lupus.

Lupus develops when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many body systems — including your heart, kidneys, joints, skin, blood cells, brain and lungs. Lupus is a chronic disease that does not have a cure at this time.

Unpredictable and debilitating bouts with symptoms of the disease are known as flares.

At times lupus patients may have periods with few to no symptoms, commonly called remissions. Some physicians are uncomfortable with the term “remission” as lupus symptoms rarely disappear completely. They may, instead, choose to use the term “quiescence” (pronounced: kwee-ess-ence.) At other times the patient may have high disease activity which include unpredictable and debilitating bouts with symptoms of the disease.

Flares can be classified as mild, moderate, or severe. For example: A mild flare could perhaps be signaled by a lupus rash, moderate flares could include the rash, fatigue, and joint or muscle pain, and severe flares could potentially cause damage to the organs including fluid buildup around the heart or even kidney disease or failure (called lupus nephritis), which would require immediate medical attention. Back to top

So how is a lupus flare recognized?

Most lupus patients will have symptoms of muscle and joint pain as well as fatigue regularly, so what makes a flare different? Here are some warning signs of a pending lupus flare:

It is important to report any of these with your medical caregiver as soon as possible so that they can quickly assess and treat any symptoms that could signal a flare. Keeping a daily symptom journal can be a helpful tool. Back to top

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissues. It results in symptoms such as inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs.

This is the way it works. There is a protein called antibody that the immune system produces in order to protect and fight against antigens (which are foreign substance to the body) such as viruses and bacteria. Lupus will now make the immune system unable to recognize and differentiate between antigen and the normal healthy tissue in the body which makes the immune system direct antibodies against the healthy tissue causing swelling, pain, and tissue damage.

The effect of lupus can affect any part of the body such as joints, blood vessels, lungs, kidney and other internal organs.